Rodarte S/S 2014 New York

[Wynoforever]

I have no words to describe the impact of this collection

 

[HeatherAnne]

From their FACEBOOK page -

The Rodarte SS14 collection was inspired by Los Angeles: Hair Metal Bands, the Sunset Strip, Rockabilly, Old Hollywood and the 1980s.

108 likes. Those people obviously have dirt in their eyes.

To me that's what's wrong with the Mulleavys, taking their inspirations way too literally; I know they have a great love of film, so maybe they need to decide if they want to be costume designers or fashion designers.

+ That inspiration got totally lost in translation this season. Does anyone seriously get from those references to this garbage.

 

[Victoria Kat]

Gobsmacked I could see Miley wearing some of this, hideous.

 

[anik]

Are they inspired by Nomi Malone and the Flintstones?

 

[carolyna]

This collection is not my cup of tea

 

[MyNameIs]

Since we can all agree that collections are no longer just insider fashion events made solely for buyers and editors, we have to accept that the showing of a collection is at least in part a media and publicity event. As such one of the goals of a collection is to get as many people talking about it as humanly possible. From that standpoint this is a resounding success, every blogger will talk about this, every twitter will tweet about this. These images will get maximum exposure on Tumblr and show up on the back of the aforementioned tacky-chic celebrities.

Who is going to buy Rodarte? Whoever it is will probably pick up a shoe, a logo printed sweatshirt (one that says "Radarte" for maximum ironic appeal) or a piece of jewelry. The clothes are already so cost prohibitive that no one outside of a select few will ever be able to actually purchase them. Meanwhile they'll get pulled for editorials and stylists trying to do a Carlyne Cerf-esque look will cream themselves over how ~urban~ it is to have a girl in a backwards baseball cap.

But whatever, the wheel will keep on turning. I'm glad they mixed it up and did something unquestionably different because if they were focusing on another business model they could just release the same exact etherealfairie, surfchic, mernymph thing that seems to make people happy.

Whenever someone resorts to 'at least people are talking' argument to defend something, you know you've hit rock bottom. Or close to it.

Sure designers want people to talk about their collections, but I'd be shocked if the sisters went into this trying to create a collection that people might talk about but everyone agrees is awful. On a personal level, even though people sometimes play it off as 'oh I don't care, people are talking about me, etc', it's gotta sting when all that talk is just venom and trashing. You want people to talk, but talk for the good reasons. I suppose eliciting negative talk is 'better' than no talk at all, but it's not a sign of success at any rate.

On a professional level, this kind of response for a brand like Rodarte is NOT what they need. They came up, took fashion by storm and became a critics' darling. Their brand had a reputation and they could afford to sell ripped leggings for 2K (or whatever it was). But you have to continue to back up the hype for the brand to remain relevant. Sure, they may be able to survive with one terrible collection and people will continue buying bracelets, tops, etc so long as it says "Rodarte" on it. But the problem is that they've been doing terrible work for a few seasons now and this outing seems to be their worst yet. Once the brand loses its cool and its aura of hip, it's hard to survive on those accessory sales. It's a bit different when your brand name is YSL or Dior. A bad streak has less impact because the brand is already ingrained in people's mind as something prestigious or elite. And even brands like those can fall terribly. Rodarte is nowhere near having that reputation or pedigree yet.

 

[foreverandnone]

Rip rodarte

 

[jeanclaude]

I´d like to see Mulleavy sisters wearing this collection in their everyday lives. I bet they would be stopped several times, and asked "How much?" in a daily basis...

 

[paz2992]

I'm going to quote Bart Simpson:
"What happened to you man, you used to be cool"

 

[CATO]

Are they inspired by Nomi Malone and the Flintstones?

Bingo anik - you made my day

yatego.com/kostueme-abraxas / style

 

[fantastical]

they must have all "yes man" type of people or no real friends to tell them this sucked and continue to allow this to happen. I don't understand how not one...ONE person was able to tell them "Hey maybe sparkly silver zebra print and cheetah AND fringe shouldn't go together". oy vey.

 

[Andrea.RL]

ANIK, CATO: you read my mind.

No doubt we'll be seeing these in every magazine, because they are eccentric/different and will give whatever the rest of the outfits are in the editorial some 'edge', but geez.. A collection is your vision of what is happening, mixed with your inspirations of course. I don't get where the hell they saw girls wanting to dress like this. (and the styling of this doesn't help a bit)
They used to present such soft and poetic pieces, someone in a previous page posted pics of spring 2011. They should have stuck with what they knew how to do and looked good..

 

[Bernadette]

A preshow request to run backstage at Rodarte for a comment from the designers was denied because, according to house p.r., Kate and Laura Mulleavy wanted the collection to be a “surprise.”

Fair enough. The lineup was surprising to a degree, but disappointing and perplexing, too. What to make of leather biker vests, bustier tops and skirts cut on a sharp angle and trimmed in long white fringe?

For accessories, there were studded belts, backward baseball caps and padlock earrings to drive home the suggestion of a hard, gritty walk of life, which was clearly deliberate. But to what end?

“We wanted to do a collection based on Los Angeles, and that’s what came out, basically,” said Laura after the show. Could she be more specific, please? “In a weird way, it’s hard for us to explain the collection because we live [in L.A.],” continued Kate.

Even if the beaded, fringed bra top worn with ruffled denim micro shorts was a you-had-to-be-there — “there” being L.A. — thing, the collection failed to render the West Coast zeitgeist in a way that felt at all luxurious. Blazers in blown-out animal prints and angora sweaters, both bids for commercial viability, converged to a contemporary market norm. Some interesting, creative ideas, such as leather kilts and a black illusion dress embroidered with a scorpion, were overshadowed by the tawdry styling.

The path from pure editorial wonder to a more measured commercial reality is never easy, and the Mulleavys are clearly struggling to negotiate it. They seem intent on distancing themselves from the unbridled romance and extraordinary beauty of their early work in favor of ever-harsher territory. One wonders, why?

When they first explored the dark side of their aesthetic, they did so with breathtaking drama. Before they can truly move ahead, perhaps the Mulleavys should take a glance backward, and reconsider the work that fashion fell in love with in the first place.

Source: wwd.com

 

[Pricciao]

Another 'so bad it's good' collection from them...some 1992 thrift store post- Buffalo girl realness going on here.

Don't know what everyone is talking about. Rodarte has always been bad and tacky.

if fashion cult has a reason to exist, this brand must be the best example.

 

[Perickles]

I like it!

 

[SabrinaNicole]

I've been thinking about this and wonder what's so bad about it. It's not like the late 80s have totally gone out of style in a lot of areas; you can still buy elements of this look..... oh well, it's just one season.

 

[Luxx]

Whenever someone resorts to 'at least people are talking' argument to defend something, you know you've hit rock bottom. Or close to it.

I wouldn't say it was a defense as much as it was a shrug rendered in text form. I don't know if anyone can really offer an appropriate true defense for something this automatically bad.

 

[Melisande]

If a ballet dancer suffered an epileptic seizure on stage, I'd like to think we'd rush to help, and not analyze and criticize it as if it were part of the dance.

I think what we are seeing are symptoms of a pathological crisis, we should be worried for the situation, not confuse the work with some sort of ironic artistic expression.

...or if it's not, at least it's that bad.

Have the sisters stayed silent on their "metamorphosis"? No interviews, explanations, etc?